Man Sits On Road To Die

Boy On His Lap Survives

May 15, 1986|By Steven Girardi, Staff Writer

Only days after leaving South Florida, Hershel Landon Watts lured the 11- year-old boy he had been raising onto Interstate 20 in Greensboro, Ga., and sat down to die, Georgia authorities said Wednesday.

Shortly after noon on Tuesday, Watts, 50, was struck in the back by a Lincoln Continental and killed instantly. The boy, Ricky Emanuel Cruz, cradled on Watts` lap, survived but was in serious condition at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, officials said.

On Wednesday, puzzled Georgia law enforcement officials were trying to figure out what led to the incident.

``We are speculating the man, Mr. Watts, apparently was attempting suicide,`` said agent Roy Harris of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. ``The indication is that the child was not willing. One eyewitness said it looked like the boy was being pulled into the road.``

Three cars swerved and missed the pair, but a fourth, driven by a Kentucky man who failed to see the pair in time to stop, plowed into them.

``The car hit them and they were knocked under the vehicle, wedged underneath and dragged a short distance,`` Harris said.

Watts, who has sisters in North Miami and Miramar, apparently left South Florida with Ricky on Friday, Harris said.

Agustin Morales of Miramar, who is married to Watts` sister, Mary, said the two were going to Helena, Ga., a tiny mountain town where Watts` estranged wife, Orleans, lives.

Morales said the couple separated several weeks ago and Watts took Ricky to South Florida.

Georgia authorities said Watts and the boy were living together in Miramar. But Morales said they were staying with Watts` other sister, Loretta Watts, in North Miami.

Morales said his wife was in Georgia visiting with Orleans.

``I don`t have anything significant to say about it. I`m waiting for her to call me,`` Morales said Wednesday night.

Loretta Watts, whose phone number and address are unlisted, could not be reached for comment.

Georgia authorities said Hershel and Orleans Watts had raised the boy since birth, but apparently had never legally adopted him. They speculated that the boy`s natural mother, reportedly a migrant worker in South Carolina, had recently demanded that the boy be returned to her.

``We know they were in McRae, Ga., (near Helena, about 60 miles southeast of Macon) on Monday,`` Harris said. ``When they left there we haven`t located anyone who can tell us exactly where they were going or why.``

On Tuesday morning, the two showed up at a truck stop on I-20 and U.S. 441 in Madison, about 110 miles to the north. Watts was refused breakfast and became involved in a loud argument with a waitress, Harris said.

The manager called the sheriff, but Watts and the boy left before deputies arrived.

At 9:47 a.m, a Green County sheriff`s deputy found Watts` 1978 Pontiac LeMans abandoned about 15 miles from the truck stop -- and 70 miles east of Atlanta -- on I-20 just outside of Greensboro. Shortly after noon, the two were run over by the car.

Authorities suspect Watts intended to commit suicide because he left his heart medication behind in the car.

``If you were a heart patient it would be strange to abandon your medication,`` Harris said.

Green County Sheriff`s Sgt. Darryl Evans said he was first at the scene. He said Watts was killed instantly but that Ricky was still conscious when he arrived.